Three men attacked an elderly Jewish man on Sunday outside a synagogue in southern France, the Telegraph reported.

According to the police complaint filed by the man, who is in his 80s, the assailants sprayed tear gas in his face and daubed explicit anti-Jewish graffiti on the doors of the synagogue, which is located in the city of Nimes.

Paul Benguigui, president of the Jewish association in Nimes, told the British newspaper that the Jewish man was attacked as he was waiting to attend services.

Benguigui was further quoted by the Telegraph as saying that the attack triggered "certain worries" in the Jewish community.

The incident comes less than a week after a man wearing a kippah was wounded in an assault in Strasbourg by a mentally disturbed attacker wielding a knife and a metal bar.

The 38-year-old man was charged Sunday with attempted murder after he told police that he was "the target of a Jewish plot", the Telegraph quoted a prosecutor as saying.

France is home to Europe's biggest Jewish community, estimated at some 500,000. There are about six million Muslims in the country.

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